INTL647 WK 8 FINAL PAPER

Introduction

In the present world, there has been a series of technological advancements especially in this era of digital migration where everybody is using technology. However, a lot of people do not realize that there are problems that arise as technological changes continue happening. One of the biggest challenge faced in the technological environment is data breaching. This refers to incidences where an individual’s private and confidential information is accessed by unauthorized individuals. Due to diverse lack of technological knowhow, a lot of people and organizations have become victims as occurrences of these data breaches rise each day. In the last two years at least 258,000 organizations has fallen as an estimate of about 3.9 million individuals from different parts of the world has been robbed as a result of data breaches (Ayyagari, 2012).

Clearly, the victim figure above emphasizes the need to come up with a solution to the data breaches more than ever before. The motivation behind carrying out the author’s my proposed research is the rapid changes in the world of technology thatwhich does not match the rate at which a big population adjusts along with the technological changes. This makes them vulnerable to more and more data breaches every day if something is not done. I believe that creating awareness concerning how to be data secure will greatly impact the world positively through reducing the data breaches occurrences.

In my research, I look forward to investigating a number of issues as far as data breaches are concerned. The issues include:

· Causes of data breaches.

· How the data breaches are done.

· Solutions to data breaches.

Importance of the proposed research.

With the continual technological advancements, I believe that if a large population of people as well as organizations that make use of technology to store their confidential data get to know all about these issues as well as how to combat data breaches, then the world would be a peaceful place to live in. it will also give room for further technological advancements as the more data secure people will be more willing to embrace the changes.

Literature review

“Meyer, C. H., & Matyas, S. M. (1982). CRYPTOGRAPHY: A new dimension in computer data security: A guide for the design and implementation of secure systems. Wiley.” Comment by Herbert Kemp: I assume the final lit review will be longer….

My theoretical framework

Causes of data breaches

One of the causes of data breaches is cyber-attacks. This has been the leading data security threat over the last two years. This refers to a situation whereby an individual- cybercriminal- accesses an organization’s data and uses it for malicious gains whether for fun, for financial gains or even for undercover activities such as spying.

Another cause of data breaches is common human errors. I tend to perceive this as the most frustrating cause of data breaches because it is the easiest to avoid. Human errors that may cause data breaching are in different forms. Among the most common is failure of an individual to set coverings to identified susceptibilities. This is mostly by a company’s employees who are entrusted with the company’s confidential files. The employees may leave their laptops in open places where they can easily be stolen thus risking unauthorized access to the files in the laptop. A different common human error is a situation whereby a company’s staff member sends vital company’s information to an address they did not intend. An employee may also configure a database with sensitive organizational information to be internet facing which is in most cases unintentional. This makes the information accessible to any other person when they surf the internet (Wikina, 2014).

Another cause of data breaches is system faults. Sudden malfunctions in the system has been a great cause of data breaching. The system faults may be in terms of program glitch, accidental data bumps or even logic errors while transferring data. They end up exposing files to unauthorized parties unconsciously.

How do the breaches occur?

Data breaches occur in various ways. For instance, a researcher or a cybercriminal may identify fissures that could lead them to accessing a company’s or individual’s sensitive data. If the system admins are unable or too slow to patch the susceptibilities, the cybercriminal may end up accessing the targeted information from a company’s system.

In other cases, a cybercriminal may send phishing emails to a company’s employee who has access to the system in target. Once the employee fall for the email and opens it, the cybercriminal is then able to install a program on the company’s system that shows all the credentials he/she requires be it the passwords or logins. They will then be able to access all the company’s information easily having the login credentials.

In other times, individual’s confidential data may be accessed if they store data in their laptop or any other device while it is unencrypted. If by any chance the laptops is hacked or gets stolen, then some other unauthorized party will gain access to the information some of which may be very sensitive.

Ways to prevent data breaches

1. Encrypting data using strong passwords.

Any sensitive data should always be secured whether they have been stored or are being sent to different parties. It is moat recommendable to secure the data by use of strong passwords that are hard to predict. It is also recommendable to keep changing the passwords frequently. This ensures that the data cannot be accessed by any other person apart from those who know the passwords (Rao.et.al, 2015).

2. Minimal as well as secure data transfer

Switching data from a device to another in most cases increases the risk of data access by unauthorized parties. Loss of removable files risk the information to being accessed inadvertently.

3. Automation

It is important for each company to ensure that all the systems are automatically secured. It is important for the relevant administrators to frequently check the system settings, the firewall configuration of the systems as well as the servers so as to reduce the risk of getting sensitive organizational data being breached.

4. Restricted downloads

All the files downloaded within a company setting should be related to the company. Downloading media and any other files may lead to data breaches especially if the files were sent by malicious cybercriminals with the intention of gaining access to the company information.

5. Security training.

It is important to ensure that all the employees of a company are well trained as far as data security is concerned. This way, a lot of them will be more carefully in the way they handle sensitive and confidential files thus reducing incidents of data transfer.

I would use the group think theory to identify the faults in decision making. This theory recommends experimental confirmation of my research hypothesis. This is mostly in instances whereby I face challenges in making vital decisions which may expose me to ethical dilemmas or even time stresses. This therefore calls for team cohesiveness to assist in making decisions. I would also make use of group theory if I am face with inadequacies such as using informal procedures. However the group theory may pose a challenge especially if the members of the group lack social diversity (Mohamed.et.al, 2016).

Some of the group decision making problems may include:

· Inadequate consideration of the available alternatives so as to ensure unanimity.

· Inadequate evaluation of the goals of decision making process.

· Poor assessment of possible risks related to each alternative.

· Inadequate or biased data searches.

Research design

Throughout my proposed research project, I will employ a variety of data collection techniques. They include conducting interviews, use of surveys and questionnaires as well as direct observations. I would interview some of employees from different companies to find out if their companies have ever been victims of data breaches and how it occurred if there was any. I would also send online surveys to enquire from a wider range of people about data breaches and its possible solutions. I would also observe how different people handle confidential data or even devices containing the confidential files (Sandelowski, 2010). Comment by Herbert Kemp: You are not authorized to do interviews – this is human subject research and you have not been trained to do it. Limit your research to literature.

In analyzing my data, I would draw conclusions from the data obtained by use of inferential statistics. This would basically entail studying random data samples and drawing inferences from them which I would use to represent the whole data.

Discussion and conclusion

The final phase of my proposed project will be to thoroughly study the research outcomes. At this stage I will be able to come up with more effective and long-term solutions to data breaches. I will also be able to create a data security awareness program that will equip the population with knowledge required to enhance data security.

References

Ayyagari, Ramakrishna. "An exploratory analysis of data breaches from 2005-2011: Trends and insights." Journal of Information Privacy and Security 8, no. 2 (2012): 33-56.

Mohamed, A. Amin, and Frank A. Wiebe. "Toward a process theory of groupthink." Small group research 27, no. 3 (2016): 416-430.

Rao, R. Velumadhava, and K. Selvamani. "Data security challenges and its solutions in cloud computing." Procedia Computer Science 48 (2015): 204-209.

Sandelowski, Margarete. "Combining qualitative and quantitative sampling, data collection, and analysis techniques in mixed‐method studies." Research in nursing & health 23, no. 3 (2010): 246-255.

Wikina, Suanu Bliss. "What caused the breach? An examination of use of information technology and health data breaches." Perspectives in health information management11, no. Fall (2014).

The most infamous data breaches. Retrieved from https://www.techworld.com/security/uks-most-infamous-data-breaches-3604586/

Data Breaches. Retrieved from https://krebsonsecurity.com/category/data-breaches/

Baker, W., Goudie, M., Hutton, A., Hylender, C. D., Niemantsverdriet, J., Novak, C., ... & Tippett, P. (2011). 2011 data breach investigations report. Verizon RISK Team, Available: www. Verizon business. com/resources/reports/rp_databreach-investigations report-2011_en_xg. pdf, 1-72.

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